1998 Madeira Miles Tinta Negra Fortificado

Description

The company that would eventually become Miles Madeira was originally known as Rutherford & Brown, established on the island of Madeira in 1814. In 1856, Henry Price Miles left England with his family and arrived in Madeira. Having worked as an apprentice from the age of 12 under the tutelage of James Rutherford, he gained solid knowledge and experience of the Madeira trade. In 1872, the Rutherfords moved to London (due to phylloxera decimating most vineyards in Madeira) and started a wine‑import business at Old Trinity House on Water Lane. This led Miles to buy the company and its shares, and later he made a gentleman’s agreement with Rutherford that any Madeira sold by them in the UK, Scandinavia or Russia would be purchased through HPMiles & Co. The Madeira Wine Company was originally an association of several Madeira wine producers who decided to unite to strengthen their buying and production capacities. This association was founded in 1913. During a period of discord, the old family firms of Blandy’s and Leacock joined, followed immediately by a dispute involving Miles and Cossart Gordon, creating the largest producer and exporter of Madeira wine. Whatever its size, maintaining the unique characteristics and style of each individual company was at the heart of the association. By the late 1970s, the interests in the Madeira Wine Company, as it had become known, had been reduced to just a handful of the original families, with the Blandy family holding the controlling stake. In 1989, the Blandy family, needing to strengthen the sales and marketing side of the business, invited the Symington family from Porto, Portugal, to partner with them. This partnership has continued to the present day, allowing the Madeira Wine Company to play a leading role in the development of the Madeira wine trade. The year of bottling may not correspond to the image presented. (image purely illustrative)